DENVER, CO – MARCH 24: A sign placed out on the 16th Street Mall, beckons people to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. In the final week leading up to the March 31 deadline for signing up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, the waiting room was filled with people wanting to sign up at the Connect for Health Colorado enrollment site on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver on Monday, March 24, 2014. (Kathryn Scott Osler The Denver Post)

High volume caused an hourlong outage on the Connect for Health Colorado website Thursday, the last day for people to sign up for plans through the state’s Obamacare exchange in order to have health care coverage that kicks in on Jan. 1.

The outage began at about 7 a.m., said Luke Clarke, a spokesman for Connect for Health Colorado. The website was back up around 8 a.m., he said.

“It was technical issues related to volume,” Clarke said.

Clarke said Connect for Health Colorado will work with any customers who tried to sign up during the outage to ensure they have coverage beginning in January. Those affected should call the exchange’s customer service line at (855) 752-6749, Clarke said.

Despite federal uncertainty about what will become of Obamacare after the election of Donald Trump as president, health insurance sign-ups on the exchanges have increased this year both in Colorado and nationally. Through November, 25 percent more people had signed up for an individual plan through Connect for Health Colorado than had in the same period last year. Through the end of last week, about 7 percent more people — roughly 250,000 consumers more than in 2015 — had signed up for plans on HealthCare.gov, the exchange for people in states that, unlike Colorado, chose not to create their own marketplaces.

Even if Obamacare is repealed next year in Congress, the plans purchased now would still be good for the year and could not be canceled midway through.

While open enrollment on Connect for Health Colorado runs through Jan. 31, 2017, consumers must select a plan by the end of Thursday if they want coverage that starts on Jan. 1. Once open enrollment is closed, only people who experience a “life-changing event” — such as a marriage or divorce, the birth of a child, or the loss of employer-sponsored insurance — can sign up through the exchange.

“Yesterday was an extraordinarily busy day, and we expect today to be so, as well,” Clarke said.

He expects to have final numbers next week on how many people signed up by the coverage deadline.

Facing a growing demand for workers, Centura Health has teamed up with Arapahoe Community College to create a new apprenticeship program for medical assistants in hopes of creating a pipeline of employees.